The Daughter Who Carries Everything: a poetry collection for the Eldest Daughters

A poetry collection for the eldest daughters, and for every woman who grew up too fast.

If you were the responsible one, the strong one, the one who watched the room before you learned to read it, the one who counted the heads at night to make sure the house was holding — this book is for you.

The Daughter Who Carries Everything is a collection of 77 short poems about parentification, family, motherhood, and the cost of being the one everyone counted on. It is written for the eldest daughters, the over-functioning daughters, and the women who carried what was never theirs.

This book is not a memoir. It is not a story. It is a companion. Read the pieces in any order. Return to it whenever you need to. Find the poems that are yours and let the others pass.

A sample from inside:

i do not remember being a child.
i remember being on duty.
the third stair from the top creaks
and i have not stepped on it since i was nine.

What's inside:

77 short poems, organized in seven parts
Pieces about mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, the body, and the slow work of breaking the cycle
An honest voice that does not romanticize the wound or pretend it disappears
A book you can keep on your nightstand and return to whenever you need to
This book is for you if:

You are the eldest daughter, or you carried what was never yours to carry
You have spent years holding everything together for everyone else
You are ready to put down some of what you have been carrying